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The diplomat practically ran into the throne room, carrying a scroll and waving it at the nearest guard. "I must speak to the Sultan!" he shouted, before noticing that the Sultan was already walking towards him, heading out of the room. He dropped to his knees immediately, holding the scroll humbly up before him. "Many apologies, my lord, but there is news from Iraq."

Hizir IV smiled wryly down at the guard before gesturing for the guard to leave. He chuckled deeply and scratched at his beard. "You may relax, Halil. Only my enemies need fear my so-called rashness, not my loyal servants." The Sultan took the scroll from the diplomat's hand, and continued, "rise, my friend, and help yourself to refreshment while I read this."

While the diplomat rose to his feet and quietly made his way to the side of the throne room, Hizir cracked the seal on the scroll and read the terse writing:

Persians make demands of Iraq, threaten invasion.

Frowning, Hizir crumpled the scroll in his hand. Calling out the door to the guard, he yelled "Bring me my sword and assemble my generals. We march to war in the east." He turned to the diplomat who had frozen mid-drink.

"Your task, Halil, is to journey to Damascus, and inform the Syrians that we will require their aid in this venture. Explain that the Persians have violated our sphere of influence, and that we move now to punish them for this temerity." He tossed the crumpled scroll to the diplomat.

"Show them that, and send word once you have their agreement."

Two weeks later, the Sultan received his answer from Syria: the diplomat's head in a box, the scroll shoved into his mouth.

After Persia violated the Saruhan claims of influence over the minor nation of Iraq, Hizir IV, "The Impatient" immediately declared war upon the Persians for their temerity. Unfortunately, Syria, who recently was liberated from the Mamluks by Saruhan, had also formed an alliance with Persia. When this new war started, they made the unfortunate decision to align themselves with Persia.

The Sultan's choice was simple: drive for Damascus and knock Syria out of the war before Persia could bring any major forces to bear.

The strategy was rather effective, and Saruhan took possession of the last formerly-Mamluk province on the eastern border (Van) and forced Syria to break their alliance with Persia.

After the quick defeat of Syria, the Saruhani armies turned east and drove into Persia, with their flanks protected by a contingent from their loyal Bulgarian allies.

Persia only managed a token defense, with a single major battle being fought. After the allied forces penetrated sufficiently into Persia, the punitive terms were established: Armenia would be ceded to Saruhan, Persian control over eastern Georgia was nullified, and Persia was isolated diplomatically. Hizir IV expected that this would be the end of the problems with Persia interfering in Saruhani matters.

The lands newly freed from Persian control became wild and lawless for a short while, but the nascent government of Georgia took matters into their hands to police the region for the time being.

After the war with Persia, Hizir IV met with his councilors and invited a number of dignitaries from nearby nations. He presented a speech in which he explained that the Saruhanoglu Dynasty had demonstrated its strength, will, and perserverence. It maintained the power to influence even those outside its borders, and that it would continue to expand that influence as well as those borders to where it seemed prudent.

As such, what was at first merely a tribe, then a Sultanate, would take on the mantle of Empire.

Hizir IV would maintain the title of Sultan, but he would come to be known in Persian lands as Padishah, or "Great King". History would relegate the moniker "the Impatient" to his younger years only, and after his reign ended he would be called simply Hizir the Great.

Speaking at a dinner after the Imperial Proclamation, Hizir IV explained his plans for the near future. "We must move now to take advantage of our strength. To the south, in Syria, there are rich lands that will fuel our peoples' growth and our armies' strength. We are the strongest power in the region, but if we are to resist the powers of Christendom, we must secure our future now."

Within the week, plans were made to invade the Levant; shortly before the invasion was to be launched, however, refugees came north out of Syria. They explained that rebels from Egypt, perhaps encouraged by the embarrassment of the Syrian army at the hands of Saruhan, had reclaimed large portions of Syria. The Sultan smiled at this news.

"You will be returned to your homes by my hand! And then, you will be protected by a strong hand, and by all the power we can bring to bear on your behalf."

The (somewhat unexpected) Third Turko-Egyptian War began.

The Sultan set a goal of reaching Jerusalem and taking it for the glory of his empire. There had been rumblings within Anatolia that he had not paid enough homage to God for raising him and his nation to such heights; Hizir hoped that taking Jerusalem would provide his clerics with the sign they were looking for.

Unfortunately, Saruhan was not the only nation driving towards Jerusalem. Great Britain, who had recently conquered Alexandria to take possession of its valuable trading hub, was pushing across Egypt and preparing to turn up into the Levant as well. Tense messages were sent between generals of the two nations, but nothing concrete regarding the British plans was received. The Sultan's commanders were worried they would be unable to take Jerusalem for the Hand, especially after the British laid siege to the holy city.

Luckily, the British goals appeared to preclude capturing Jerusalem and instead focused on more mundane economic goals. Once they had sufficiently captured Egypt, they negotiated a peace with the Mamluks, their armies retreating back to the Nile region.

This laid the Levant clear for the Sultan, whose armies easily conquered Judea and raised the flag of the White Hand over the temples of the city.

Hi, love your stuff! Your maps are highly informative though one small thing you need to improve on would be to stop using stock phrases too often. Try to be creative with your narrative. Please don't flame me

Hi, love your stuff! Your maps are highly informative though one small thing you need to improve on would be to stop using stock phrases too often. Try to be creative with your narrative. Please don't flame me

I won't flame you, I appreciate the feedback. I do realize that I tend to repeat things (I went through and re-read something and found that I used "aid" like four times in one sentence; it was rather horrible). Partly, it's that I sort of stream-of-thought while writing so I don't keep track of what I've said before. I'm also more visually creative than linguistically creative, so I don't tend to think very hard in terms of variations within the narrative.

I will try to make an effort to pay more attention to that, though. Thanks!

Securing the Levant - 1580-1588Not much narrative in this one, since it's a pretty dry series of events. Consider it a brief historic report.

Following the 3rd war with the Mamluks, it was expected that the Saruhan Empire would enter a period of consolidation, economic development and construction. Indeed, a number of improvements were started throughout the Empire, focusing on those provinces with valuable trading goods. The army, however, rather than being allowed to return home, was called upon to represent the Empire outside its borders in defense of the nation's allies.

Hungary, one of the large Eastern European powers, had declared war upon Croatia, whom Saruhan had helped free from their rule at an earlier date. Because this Hungarian declaration was an insult to the influence of the Empire, providing assistance to the Croatians was inevitable. The three major armies of Saruhan marched immediately for Hungary, with the Greek Army able to reach first.

The Hungarians may not have anticipated a Turkish power coming to the aid of a minor nation such as Croatia, for the war was over fairly quickly upon the arrival of Saruhani armies. Croatia accepted the region of Bosnia as reparations for Hungarian aggression; the Saruhan Empire imposed much more punitive terms upon them, reducing the kingdom of Hungary to a mere shell that was eventually vassalized by Austria. (The one province taken by Saruhan was gifted to the Bulgarians.)

With the European border quiet once again, the Sultan's eyes turned back south for the previously planned consolidations.

First, researchers in Damascus discovered a link between Syrian and Saruhanoglu ruling families dating to before the rise of the Ottomans. Ambassadors pointing this out in a visit to Syria were rebuffed; the Sultan shrugged and sent in the armies. The war was brief, and when it was completed the Sultan claimed another crown.

The second part of the consolidations was to push the Egyptians further back out of the Levant, securing the southern border and establishing a strong front against what was assumed to be strong British interest in the Sinai.

The suspicion of increasing British involvement in the region was confirmed, as their ambassadors delivered a stern warning to the Sultan upon declaration of war upon the Mamluks. It remained unclear as to whether these two empires would clash in the future over control of the eastern Mediterranean, but tensions would be high for some time.

As for the Mamluks, there was little resistance they could offer to Saruhan's forces and they quickly capitulated, ceding two isolated provinces and dropping their claims to former territories.

Shortly after the conclusion of this war, the British began a crusade in Egypt, with the goal of expanding their power base in the area, presumably as a buffer against further Saruhani growth.

This would rapidly become a secondary concern, however, for a new threat from the West had awoken and turned its eyes upon the Saruhan Empire and its allies:

Nice dismantling of Hungary! With the eventual absorption of Syria, your borders will be looking nice. It is interesting that Austria attacked before Great Britain. Your armies will have an easier time reaching their homeland, but I'm curious who they bring to the war against Saruhan.

I remember in httt having the same borders as you playing as byzantium.Austria was a major power with all their provinces in the balkans bordering me and declaring war to me every 5 years .Anyway good luck i am a big fan of yours and you made me try to go and make another aar !

[22:23:51] <Groogy> Mathrim, give it to me gently
What Crusader Kings 2 makes you say:
[19:23:43] <Duke> I just need my damn wife to die
[19:23:48] <Duke> Then I can invade and take their shit

I shiver at the thought of Austria attacking. Even small western countries could field large, powerful armies in the 16th century and beyond, much less Austria, Bohemia and the Mr.Big gang... As a Russia that expanded into Alaska like in the late 17th century, I had trouble dealing with Bohemia despite the country being less than a tenth the size of mine.